Downingtown West rallies past Owen J. Roberts GIRLS SOCCER: rtsXxxx

BUCKTOWN — Failure to protect a second-half lead nearly cost the Owen J. Roberts girls soccer team in its first District 1 Class AAA Tournament game.

Saturday night, the Wildcats wound up paying dearly for that recurring motif.

Downingtown West got two scores from Dana Sarcinello in the final 29 minutes to erase a one-goal halftime deficit as the Whippets took down Owen J. Roberts 2-1 in a 1-AAA quarterfinal at Wildcat Stadium.

“It’s been trend, us giving up leads like that,” lamented OJR coach Joe Margusity, whose squad had blown a two-goal cushion in Thursday’s second-round game against C.B. South before Emily Morgan’s goal with 22 seconds left gave the Wildcats at 3-2 win. “I felt we backed off touching the ball. We also fouled way too much at our end of the field, which was stupid.

“I thought Downingtown West, with their style of play, had us turned and running at our own goal. We made a couple of mistakes in there and they capitalized.”

The Whippets got big-time performances from seniors Sarcinello and Annie Messner, their keeper, in avenging a 3-2 overtime loss to the Wildcats last month.

With Owen J. Roberts leading 1-0, Sarcinello netted the equalizer with 28:32 remaining in regulation.

Then, after a Wildcats foul resulted in a direct kick for the Whippets, Sarcinello drilled a 25-yard attempt off in off the left post to put Dowingtown up to stay with 14:49 left.

“I was just thinking, ‘Get it on the frame,’” Sarcinello said. “I was so happy it went in.”

“Dana’s not been scoring tons of goals for us, but she’s been creating everything for us,” Whippets coach Wes Davis said. “As of late, though, she’s been really stepping up to the plate. She’s taking those big shots and scoring.”

Owen J. Roberts junior striker Juliana Provini did that in the first half, breaking loose and burying one from about 15 yards out 26:29 before the break, but Messner (seven saves) kept the Wildcats at bay the rest of the way.

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“We made our girls believe they could win and got them to up the pressure,” said Davis. “When they up the pressure, everything kind of changes pretty quick. We have players that can take people on, and when they decided to do that it can change the game.”

Things changed for the worse for the Wildcats as the game progressed. Provini went off with an eye injury after a collision on a 50-50 ball and was out for more than 10 minutes (when the Whippets took the lead) before returning to action in crunch time.

Messner came up huge by stopping Morgan on a breakaway with less than 11 minutes left.

Then Morgan and Provini each hit the deck in the box in the late going, but — much to Margusity’s chagrin — a call was not forthcoming on either occasion.

“We still have a second bite at the apple,” Margusity said. “But it’s definitely a harder path.”